Never Alone
by Kathy376fun
Summary: When Ginny faces her worst fear, she does it alone. But is anyone truly ever alone? Or is it just a worst case scenario made in our mind? One-shot.


**A/N: Writing Tomione this idea came to mind. But I found Ginny better for it, because she's the only one that truly ever knew Tom during Hogwarts. I liked writing her very much though it turned out completely different from what I had written down, which turned out completely different from what I had in mind. But that's typical in my case. My stories seem to decide for themselves which road they will take, and I love them for that.**

**Btw: I'm writing another story that would possibly feature Tom and Minerva, or maybe even an O.C. I already made an one-shot that could be seen as a (kind-off)preview. It's called ****_Remembering_****. If you're interested please check it out, and do review. More information in there.**

**Well enough rambling for now. R&R and hopefully enjoy.**

* * *

Ginny Weasley had never faced a Bogart before. When Professor Lupin taught, he had told her that the bogart was like a visible counterpart of the Dementor, and he thought she couldn't handle it back then.

Which was the truth.

Now, three years later, she ignores the small voice that tells her she still can't, because she feels that she has too, and that she has to do it alone.

Well that, and honestly, she isn't sure if anyone would understand that she keeps being afraid of him. That she is terrified, not that she will see him, but that maybe, she won't be strong enough, and he will be able to persuade her all over again, like when he made her do things an eleven year old girl should never have to.

So now she stands here, on the cold, dark attic, in front of the closet she knows contains the actor able to bring her worst fear to live.

Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes and opens it.

And the voice she hoped to never hear again, comes as perfect as it was last time.

"Well, well. Ginny Weasley. What a pleasant surprise"

"Tom Riddle" she says stiffly, opening her eyes, dreading his sight.

He stands there, immaculately dressed, smiling pleasantly.

"Really? Is that how you're going to greet me? Last time I checked, I was so much more than Just Tom Riddle to you"

"Yes well, last time I checked I thought I was more than Ginny Weasley to you, too" she retorts sharply.

He takes a step forward, assessing her. The wooden floor creaks when he does, and it is a horrible sound.

"My, how you've grown. I suppose I can't call you my little Gryffindor anymore"

"I was never yours to begin with, Riddle"

"I beg to differ, little Gryffindor. You always were mine, as you always chose to be"

"Chose?", she echoes incredulously, "Just like I chose to open the Chamber of secrets? Just as I chose to put my friends and other people in mortal peril? Not to mention me? Yes, I'm sure it was by _choice_"

"It was" he says, in persuasive tones

"That's not true! You forced me to. You possessed me ", she knows she should be doing something else, like making him disappear, but he always had a way with words, and she always fell for them, even if to argue.

"How old are you now? Around fifteen?"

She doesn't see what it has to do with anything, but she nods.

"Do they really not teach you anything at your school?" he muses.

"They would, if _someone_," she stares really hard at him," would not always interfere"

He chuckles amused. The dust blows away.

"Always the little spitfire. Well, Ginny, you should know that possession only works with those who want to be possessed. Those who are willing to share their mind and body with me. Those who feel I will help them to achieve... their goals"

"That's not true" she says again, but this time it comes out as a whisper.

"But it is, little Gryffindor. You enjoyed getting those Mudbloods. I know you did. And you know why?", He continues without waiting for her answer, "because I let you choose the victims"

"No, no, the attacks were random. I wanted nothing to do with them"

"Random, Ginny? Was it a mere causality that the cat got petrified, the moment you wanted to stop it from ratting you out to Filch, for not being at the Halloween feast?"

"Yes, it-" was, she intended to say, but her train of thought betrayed her. She was really annoyed with Collin when he got attacked. And it was _she _who had told him Harry would appreciate a visitor. But she had never wanted him to be the next victim, had she? Had she? Oh, no..

"You figured it out, didn't you, Ginny? The photographer boy annoyed you. You needed a little bit of space, and he just did not _get _it, did he? Kept asking you questions, and questions, and you were so tired.'

She had been tired. And Colin did really not know when to stop. He had deserved it- wait, alarm clocks started to go off in her mind, but Riddle continued.

'And Justin Fin-Fletchey kept accusing Harry from being the Heir of Slytherin, and Harry was getting hurt. And you were in love with him. It was only natural to protect him. Justin should have stopped when you first talked to him."

"No, no, please stop" but Riddle kept talking mercilessly, his voice hypnotising in the darkness

"Then came the double attack. You had only wanted to take down Penelope, because it was her fault you couldn't talk to anyone about what was happening to you, but she just kept getting in your _way. _

What was happening to you. Important sentence. Being so tired, and waking up even more tired. Suddenly finding yourself with feathers all over, or covered in red stains looking horribly like blood. And always accompanied by a black diary, always there, always feeling it, feeling its presence, its influence, creeping into your brains, like a parasite..

'She should've told Percy it was no big deal if people knew about the relationship, so that he would stop interfering. But she didn't and you were suffering, and if anyone should be, it was her

Offering words of comfort that stopped giving comfort long time ago, always repeating the same over and over again, trying to persuade you what you were fearing was impossible, that there was no way you could be the Heir, but its words ending up sounding shallow and empty..

'Hermione was a bit of an accident off course. She was rather nice to you, not unlike the rest. But she do tended to keep talking, when all you needed was a bit of quiet...

You found yourself wishing for a bit of quiet, wishing to be able to be alone just one second, to _think_, to figure out what was so incredibly wrong with all this, with all the questions the diary kept asking, questions that betrayed it knew just a little too much, betraying its excitement, and never leaving you alone..

'And off course, the way that she just kept hanging around Harry Potter, following him everywhere, and being brave enough to talk with him, while you didn't dare..

And you wondered where that Gryffindor courage had ended up going, when you needed it most, finally summoning it to throw away the diary, just to lose it almost immediately, because you weren't brave enough to let Harry know how you felt, to have him know _you_ had written that horrible excuse for a poem...

'Well, you were jealous, and who could blame you? Besides, everyone knew that Harry Potter deserved someone much better than buck-toothed, frizzy haired, know-it-all Hermione Granger. Someone like you..

Witnessing the anger of the diary and trying to resist, failing once again, when it told you to reach out your fingers, dripping with blood again, your blood this time, to write down your own grave marker, your own death sentence, and forcing you to enter that Chamber, which held so much misery,

'So, you decided there was no need to feel guilty about it, because she hadn't died, had she? She was just petrified, giving you time to finally take a chance with Harry, without her being around..

Weakening you so much that you eventually crashed down, only to hear a sickening sweet voice that told you in honeyed tones that it all would be over soon, while brushing the hair out of your face and praising you for being such a good, little girl to Lord Voldemort..

'You see, Ginny? The connection between all of them? They all had wronged you in a way. And I allowed you to get your revenge. You had been very helpful after all, and Lord voldemort always rewards his helpers"

"You're lying Riddle. You can't manipulate me anymore like that. I'm not eleven years old anymore, I am not that silly, little, insecure girl I was before. I am no longer alone"

"No, you're not. There's someone else now, isn't there. Your beloved Potter maybe?", he sneered "did he finally notice you? Tell me," he asked, his voice taking on a cruel, taunting edge, "how does he manage to spend time with you while he fulfils his duty and attempts to save the war? Does he at least makes an effort, or are you just too insignificant for him, a girlfriend he took because he pitied her, but never really cared? When is he going to break up with you? You know he is going to, soon, don't you?"

"Harry doesn't thinks of me that way" she says, but it comes out hesitantly, and she curses herself, because she has shown him yet another weakness.

"Doesn't he? I think he does. But," and now his voice is softer, friendlier and his face takes on a loving expression, "I don't. If you chose me, I would always be there for you, giving you my undivided attention"

She snorts. He ignores it.

"Come with me, Ginny" and now it are the alluring words of an actor, and not his. She prefers his words, for when _he_ speaks, she does not forget she's talking to Voldemort. When the actor speaks, forgetting who he is becomes too easy, and so does seeing him as just Tom Riddle, the quiet, handsome, brilliant, nice young man.

She staggers back, reminding herself not to fall into that trap. He takes a step forward immediately, and the floorboards creak again, and they didn't creak when she stepped back, and she feels comforted for a moment that her home recognises him as the intruder, too.

"Please, just.. leave me alone?" and she hates herself for making it sound like a question, instead of an order.

"I would, but I know you don't want to. Because you know you'll always be mine. You know nobody else but me will ever want you, and nobody will ever accept you. I'm the only one who can give you what you desire. Come with me, Ginny. Or you will be left alone and forgotten, just like you are now"

"I am not" am I? am I?

"Yes, you are. Why else are you here, all by yourself. Because you knew nobody would understand it, just like they didn't understand the way you kept screaming in your sleep. But, I do, Ginny. I get it"

"Harry gets it, too" she realises too late she said too, implying that she believes him. His smirk makes it obvious that he took it the same way, she didn't want it to mean.

"Because he loves you? There's no such thing as love, silly girl. Now, I ask you once more; are you willing to take the option I am so generously providing you? It does not last forever, little Gryffindor" annoyance, well camouflaged but still distinct enough to tell, is seeping into his voice.

"Oh, so we're back to 'silly girl' and 'little Gryffindor' now?" she spits, feeling fury accumulate in her chest.

"If I had known it disturbed you I wouldn't have said it, dear"

She snorts. "Right. I am not your dear, Riddle. And I'm done being afraid"

She goes for her wand, only to notice that she isn't holding it. Panic rises in her, and she reluctantly raises her head, already knowing what she is about to see.

"Looking for this?" is mockingly said.

"Yes, if you would kindly give it back"

"Oh, I don't think so, my-dear-little-Gryffindor-and-silly-girl," he smirks, to annoy her further, but then his face becomes an angry mask and his voice becomes so soft she has to strain to hear it and okay, now she is really afraid, "You're done being afraid, you say? Well, I'm done being patient. I think you need some lessons re-taught"

"No, please no," she begs and sinks to her knees, because she knows what's about to come and it fucking _hurts_.

"Lesson one, don't show weakness" he snarls and lifts her wand, just as the door barges in.

"What's going on in here?" Harry asks, taking in the crying, kneeling Ginny and the other person.

"Well, well, Harry Potter has finally arrived to save the day"

"Riddle?" Harry's eyes sweep the room, the darkness, Ginny and the closet. "you're a Bogart" realization dawns on him.

"Indeed. Ginny summoned me, to face her fear and overcome it. It's _her _battle, not yours. Though, I doubt very much that she'll be able to win it, just look at her, sitting in the dust, at my feet. Just where she belongs"

"Shut up!" Harry yelled.

"Make me" he says threateningly.

Harry makes for his wand but Riddle's voice stops him.

"Not you. Her" and he throws her wand at her.

"Come on, Ginny" Harry says encouragly.

"Yes. Come on, Ginny. Banish me. Unless you desire my company"

Ginny tries "_Ri-ridikullus_"

"Pathetic" the Riddle-Bogart sneers.

"I told you to shut up!" Harry takes a step forward.

The Bogart-Riddle focuses on Harry.. and promptly turns into a Dementor.

Ice-cold seeps into Ginny's veins. Vaguely she hears Harry's voice and she strains to hear it, to get away from him, to don't have to listen to him repeating the same thing over and over again.

Just as sudden as it came, it's gone and Harry's embrace is there to support her.

"I failed" she sobs in his arms, I failed to defeat him. I failed to overcome my fear"

"I haven't been able to either, love" Harry confesses.

"You haven't?"

"No. That's why I always use a patronum. I can't use _ridikullus_. So, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, not that you are but..."

Harry's words come out awkward and not at all like Riddle's smooth talk. But she likes this better, she thinks. Awkward sincerity lasts much longer than velvet words that melt too quickly.

"Ginny?"

"Hmm?" she asks, distractedly.

"Do you really fear being alone that much?"

That was how the Dementor made her feel. Utterly alone, with only him as company.

She hesitates but then tells the truth: "More than I do Riddle"

Riddle, who held her company, but made her feel more alone than when she really was.

"I s'ppose the Bogart can't take on the form of loneliness"

"I suppose not. But it did do a fantastical job in letting Riddle bring me loneliness"

Just like in her first year, when he had told her that she could trust no one but him, and could not talk to anyone like she did to him, because people never listened, and he had learned it the hard way, and he did not want her to do so, but it turned out that people did listen to him, because he was powerful, he held the power of words.

They were silent for a while, with Harry still holding her.

She had maybe failed, but she was okay with it. Really. She would be ready once, and that time just wasn't now. There was no need to force it. And the opinions of other people did not matter. And her friends and family would always stand next to her.

Harry grabs her hand and pulls her out of the dark attic into the sunlit house that she can call a home.

For a brief moment she pities Tom. Because she knows that he would never understand the concept of a home.

But he doesn't wants to understand, and so her pity fades away quickly.

_No, Tom, you'll be the one left all alone and forgotten. Not me. You'll be the one without love. I've got mum and dad and Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Luna, Neville and so many others._

And after that she simply stops thinking about him. Sure, sometimes he shows up in her dreams, and turns them into nightmares, but now she's able to quickly turn them into dreams again.

Because now she knows. She knows that from him, she can't expect more than lies, and she knows she has to listen to other people. People like Harry. People who will tell her the truth.

"Harry?"

"Yes, love?"

"Thank-you, for.. being there.. with me"

"Always. And Ginny, next time, I'll be there too"

Her heart swells up with love.

And she knows that the truth is: she'll never be alone.

Ginny smiles.


End file.
